Abstract
Ion mobility spectrometry is a well-known technique used to analyze trace gases in ambient air. Typically, it works by employing a radioactive source to provide electrons with high energy to ionize the analytes in a series of chemical reactions. During the past ten years non-radioactive sources have been one of the subjects of interest in ion mobility spectrometry, initially in order to replace radioactive sources as a result of general security and regulatory concerns. Among these non-radioactive sources especially pulsed sources have recently been shown to additionally improve the analytic information provided by ion mobility spectrometers. In this review we will describe the progress regarding the application of pulsed non-radioactive electron sources in ion mobility spectrometry and show the recent analytical advances that have been achieved by using pulsed electron beams.
About the authors
Wolfgang Baether received the Diploma degree in organic chemistry in 1980. He received the Doctoral degree from the University of Bielefeld, Germany, in 1984. His Doctoral thesis was in the field of organic mass spectrometry. In 1984, he joined the Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Luebeck, Germany. His work focused on detector tube development. In 1989, he became Head of the Tube Development and Application Technology Department. In 1998, he joined the Draeger Research Group as a Technology Scout for gas measuring technologies based on ionization in the gas phase with a focus on ion mobility spectrometry.
Stefan Zimmermann received his Diploma in electrical engineering in 1996 and his PhD in electrical engineering in 2001 from the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, Germany. He was with the Department of Microsystems Technology at the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg from 1996 to 2001. His research focused on MEMS design and fabrication. In 2001, he joined the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, University of California, Berkeley, as a Postdoctoral Research Engineer with support of a Feodor-Lynen Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His research focused on BioMEMS and the development of a disposable continuous glucose monitor. In 2004, he joined the Research Unit of Dräger, Luebeck, Germany, where he worked on MEMS for medical and safety applications. His latest position at Dräger was head of Chemical and Biochemical Sensors. In 2009 he joined the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany as a full professor in sensors and measurement technology. His current research is focused on the development of sensors and nanosensors for ultrasensitive trace gas detection.
Frank Gunzer received his Diploma in physics in 1999 and the Doctoral degree in 2003 from the Christian-Albrecht-University in Kiel, Germany. The Doctoral thesis was in the field of laser mass spectrometry. In 2003 he joined the German University in Cairo, where he is currently employed as an associate professor in the Faculty of Information Engineering and Technology. His research is focused on the detection and analysis of substances with help of different spectroscopy and spectrometry techniques supported by computer algorithms. Since 2011 he has been the head of the Electronics Department of the Faculty of Information Engineering and Technology.
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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